Methods and Apparatus for Decentralized Content Measurement

This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application No. 17/967,596 filed October 17, 2022, now issued as U.S. Patent No., which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/266,301 filed December 31, 2021, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This disclosure relates generally to media management, and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for decentralized content measurement.

Media providers and/or other entities (e.g., advertising companies, broadcast networks, etc.) are often interested in the viewing, listening, and/or media behavior of audience members and/or the public in general. The media usage and/or exposure habits of monitored audience members, as well as demographic data about the audience members, are collected and used to statistically determine the size and demographics of an audience of interest. Media providers and/or other entities often embed codes and/or watermarks into media for identification purposes. Watermarking is a technique used to identify media such as television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, advertisements (television and/or radio), downloaded media, streaming media, prepackaged media, etc. Existing watermarking techniques identify media by embedding audio codes (e.g., watermarks), such as media identifying information and/or an identifier that may be mapped to media identifying information, into an audio and/or video component.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, descriptors such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., are used herein without imputing or otherwise indicating any meaning of priority, physical order, arrangement in a list, and/or ordering in any way, but are merely used as labels and/or arbitrary names to distinguish elements for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor “first” may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as “second” or “third.” In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for identifying those elements distinctly that might, for example, otherwise share a same name.

As used herein, “approximately” and “about” modify their subjects/values to recognize the potential presence of variations that occur in real world applications. For example, “approximately” and “about” may modify dimensions that may not be exact due to manufacturing tolerances and/or other real world imperfections as will be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art. For example, “approximately” and “about” may indicate such dimensions may be within a tolerance range of +/- 10% unless otherwise specified in the below description. As used herein “substantially real time” refers to occurrence in a near instantaneous manner recognizing there may be real world delays for computing time, transmission, etc. Thus, unless otherwise specified, “substantially real time” refers to real time +/- 1 second.

As used herein, the phrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals, scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events.

As used herein, “processor circuitry” is defined to include (i) one or more special purpose electrical circuits structured to perform specific operation(s) and including one or more semiconductor-based logic devices (e.g., electrical hardware implemented by one or more transistors), and/or (ii) one or more general purpose semiconductor-based electrical circuits programmed with instructions to perform specific operations and including one or more semiconductor-based logic devices (e.g., electrical hardware implemented by one or more transistors). Examples of processor circuitry include programmed microprocessors, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that may instantiate instructions, Central Processor Units (CPUs), Graphics Processor Units (GPUs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), XPUs, or microcontrollers and integrated circuits such as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). For example, an XPU may be implemented by a heterogeneous computing system including multiple types of processor circuitry (e.g., one or more FPGAs, one or more CPUs, one or more GPUs, one or more DSPs, etc., and/or a combination thereof) and application programming interface(s) (API(s)) that may assign computing task(s) to whichever one(s) of the multiple types of the processing circuitry is/are best suited to execute the computing task(s).

Blockchain technology is a distributed computing mechanism designed to provide a degree of fairness such that one entity is not advantaged while another entity is disadvantaged. A blockchain is a distributed ledger of transactions (e.g., financial transactions, data transactions, etc.) in which the transactions are recorded and chronologically and can be verified by participants without a central authority. Blockchain applies cryptographic algorithms to a shared or distributed database to allow a user to read the database, add to the database, and help ensure no single user can control what is written to the distributed database. Any blockchain user can view all transactions with respect to the distributed database. Blockchain technology provides disintermediation to reduce intermediaries in communication between data producers and data consumers. That is, rather than engaging a middleman to facilitate a transaction, two entities (e.g., a data consumer and a data supplier, etc.) can connect and engage in a transaction directly. Other entities can see the transaction, so the blockchain serves as a distributed consensus engine for the entities to verify and/or otherwise agree to the existence of the transaction.

When an entity seeks to add information to the blockchain, participating entities, which have copies of the existing blockchain, run algorithms to evaluate and verify the proposed addition (e.g., the proposed transaction, etc.). As used herein, each of these entities is referred to as a “node” of the blockchain. Each node of a blockchain includes a full copy of the ledger. If a majority of participating entities agree that the addition is valid (e.g., matches the blockchain’s history, etc.), then the addition becomes a new block in the blockchain, viewable by the participating entities. A copy of the updated blockchain is conveyed to each participating entity so each entity can see the transaction and has an up-to-date copy of the blockchain log of transactions.

Examples disclosed herein use private blockchains to distribute watermark information from media monitor entities to watermark encoders, like media broadcasters. Private blockchains limit the visibility of the blockchain’s ledger to chosen participants and control which transactions are permitted. In some examples, private blockchains include a list of permitted nodes. This list enables a handshaking process to occur between connecting nodes, which involves each node verifying the other node is on the list of permitted nodes. Some private blockchains also enable one node (e.g., a primary node, an administrator node, etc.) to grant and revoke privileges for other nodes. Additionally, in some examples, blockchains can include multiple blockchains with corresponding ledgers. In such examples, particular nodes in the blockchain can be associated with a particular blockchain. Nodes in the blockchain not associated with a particular blockchain are not able to access/view the ledger associated with that blockchain.

Audio watermarking is a technique used to identify media such as television broadcasts, radio broadcasts, advertisements (television and/or radio), downloaded media, streaming media, prepackaged media, etc. Existing audio watermarking techniques identify media by embedding one or more audio codes (e.g., one or more watermarks), such as media identifying information and/or an identifier that may be mapped to media identifying information, into an audio and/or video component. In some examples, the audio or video component is selected to have a signal characteristic sufficient to hide the watermark. As used herein, the terms “code” or “watermark” are used interchangeably and are defined to mean any identification information (e.g., an identifier) that may be inserted or embedded in the audio or video of media (e.g., a program or advertisement) for the purpose of identifying the media or for another purpose such as tuning (e.g., a packet identifying header). As used herein “media” refers to audio and/or visual (still or moving) content and/or advertisements. As used herein, a “media asset” refers to a discrete portion of media and can correspond to specific programming (e.g., a television program, a movie, a sporting event, etc.). To identify watermarked media, the watermark(s) are extracted and used to access a table of reference watermarks that are mapped to media identifying information.

Unlike media monitoring techniques based on codes and/or watermarks included with and/or embedded in the monitored media, fingerprint or signature-based media monitoring techniques generally use one or more inherent characteristics of the monitored media during a monitoring time interval to generate a substantially unique proxy for the media. Such a proxy is referred to as a signature or fingerprint, and can take any form (e.g., a series of digital values, a waveform, etc.) representative of any aspect(s) of the media signal(s)(e.g., the audio and/or video signals forming the media presentation being monitored). A signature may be a series of signatures collected in series over a timer interval. A good signature is repeatable when processing the same media presentation, but is unique relative to other (e.g., different) presentations of other (e.g., different) media. Accordingly, the term “fingerprint” and “signature” are used interchangeably herein and are defined herein to mean a proxy for identifying media that is generated from one or more inherent characteristics of the media.

Signature-based media monitoring generally involves determining (e.g., generating and/or collecting) signature(s) representative of a media signal (e.g., an audio signal and/or a video signal) output by a monitored media device and comparing the monitored signature(s) to one or more references signatures corresponding to known (e.g., reference) media sources. Various comparison criteria, such as a cross-correlation value, a Hamming distance, etc., can be evaluated to determine whether a monitored signature matches a particular reference signature. When a match between the monitored signature and one of the reference signatures is found, the monitored media can be identified as corresponding to the particular reference media represented by the reference signature that with matched the monitored signature. Because attributes, such as an identifier of the media, a presentation time, a broadcast channel, etc., are collected for the reference signature, these attributes may then be associated with the monitored media whose monitored signature matched the reference signature. Example systems for identifying media based on codes and/or signatures are long known and were first disclosed in Thomas, US Patent 5,481,294, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Some media providers and/or other entities provide video on demand (VOD). In some examples, media providers and/or other entities provide recently telecast video on demand (RTVOD). Media providers and/or other entities utilize hardware and/or software encoders to encode watermarks and/or codes into RTVOD and/or other types of recently broadcast media. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, watermarks and/or codes can be encoded into video and/or other types of media that are selected to be provided as RTVOD and/or recently broadcast media on demand ahead of the broadcast time. This pre-broadcast (e.g., ahead of time) technique, can be accomplished by encoding watermarks and/or codes into a copy of the video and/or other media that is selected to be provided as RTVOD and/or recently broadcast media on demand. These encoding watermarks are provided by media monitoring companies to broadcasters and/or media providers. However, due to the number of watermarks provided by media monitoring companies to broadcasters can be large, broadcasters can mistakenly embed the wrong watermark into media and/or fail to embed a watermark into the media.

Examples disclosed herein include references to source identifiers (hereafter “SIDs”) and time in content codes (hereafter “TICs”). As used herein, the term “SID” refers to the portion of the watermark that identifies the source of the media. SIDs can include data that can be used to identify the particular media event (e.g., the particular movie, the particular television episode, etc.), the station (e.g., TBS, CNN, etc.), and/or any other information that can be used to identify the media. As used herein, the term “TIC” refers to the portion of the watermark that identifies the current temporal location in the media (e.g., timestamp, etc.). In some examples disclosed herein, TICs can correspond to an original broadcast of the media, an absolute time (e.g., a real date and time in the future, etc.), and/or a relative time (e.g., measured from the beginning of the media, etc.).

Offline media exposure measurement may involve processes that are manually intensive. Such a manual process may involve maintaining a centralized file transfer system for aggregating metadata generated during watermark encoding. This manpower-intensive process increases the chances of human errors including data duplication, corrupt files, and the improper encoding of watermark information. Additionally, current offline media exposure measurement involves systems with tight node-locking and a closed network.

Examples disclosed herein overcome the above-noted deficiencies using blockchain technology and enable a metadata aggregation process in near real-time with secure transactions. In examples disclosed herein, a media monitoring entity and a media broadcaster entity act as nodes on a private blockchain. In some examples disclosed herein, each private blockchain generated by the media monitoring entity corresponds to a specific SID and includes a quantity of TICs, which act as the medium of exchange on the private blockchain. In the examples disclosed herein, each action that involves TICs (e.g., the encoding of the TICs into a media asset, the transfer of TICs between the media monitoring entity and a media broadcaster entity, etc.) is recorded in the ledger of the private blockchain. In some examples disclosed herein, client on-boarding, SID allocation, and encoding are immutable transactions over permission-based decentralized blockchain technology. As used herein the term “media asset” refers to a discrete piece of media (e.g., an episode of a television program, a movie, a commercial, a song, a sporting event, etc.).

Examples disclosed herein can be implemented as a multichain blockchain system. For example, each blockchain of the multichain system can correspond to a particular SID (e.g., as generated by the central facility, etc.) and the medium of transactions (e.g., the currency of the blockchain, etc.) on each blockchain are the TICs associated with the specific SID of the blockchain. In some examples disclosed herein, the media assets can be encoded with first watermark portions based on the received TICS and second watermark portions based on the identity of the blockchain (e.g., the SID associated with the blockchain, etc.). As such, as particular TICs are used to encode a media asset, an immutable record associated with the corresponding SID blockchain is created and stored on the ledger associated with the blockchain. Each SID blockchain allows both the central facility and the client device to have an immutable record of the encoding, thereby preventing the erroneous duplication of encoded watermark information.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 FIG. 100 100 101 102 101 102 101 102 101 102 is an illustration of an example prior watermark encoding system. In, the systemincludes an example media broadcaster deviceand an example central facility device. The devices,can be implemented as any suitable computing device (e.g., a personal computer, a server, etc.). While the devices,are depicted inand described herein as individual devices, the devices,can be implemented by a plurality of devices (e.g., personal computers, laptops, servers, etc.) and/or via cloud service.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 102 104 102 108 101 101 102 106 106 106 102 106 104 101 108 102 106 101 106 106 108 In, the central facility deviceincludes example watermark manager circuitrywhich enables the central facility deviceto allocate watermark information (e.g., SIDS, TICs, etc.) and/or encoding software (e.g., the encoder circuitry, associated installation software, etc.) to the media broadcaster device. The allocation of watermark information to the media broadcaster deviceenables the media broadcaster deviceto embed watermarks from the central facility deviceinto media assets (e.g., the media asset, etc.). After the watermark information has been embedded into a media asset, the media assetcan be identified by the central facility devicewhen the media assetis viewed by a user of the multichannel video programming distributor service (MVPDS) (e.g., a video on-demand service, etc.). The watermark manager circuitrycan also include a permission manager tool for use on the media broadcaster devicethat prevents the encoder circuitryfrom operating without authorization from the central facility device. The media assetis a discrete segment of media that is to be uploaded to a video on-demand service by the media broadcaster device. For example, the media assetcan include a movie, an episode of a television program, a segment of previously recorded live broadcast, etc. In, the media assetmay or may not include any encoded watermarks (e.g., other watermarks encoded by the media broadcaster device, other watermarks encoded by other entities, etc.) and/or identifiers prior to being processed by the encoder circuitry.

106 104 106 104 104 106 106 106 106 Because the media assetis being uploaded to an on-demand service, the TICs allocated by the watermark manager circuitrydo not need to correspond to an initial broadcast time of the media assetand can refer to any arbitrary time determined by the watermark manager circuitry(e.g., an absolute time in the future, an absolute time in the past, etc.). In some examples, each SID generated by the watermark manager circuitrycan have an associated range of TICs (e.g., 1 to 936,000,000, etc.). In some examples, because the main requirement of the SID/TIC combination is to uniquely identify the media asset, the TIC range of the watermarks encoded in the media assetdoes not need to correspond to a real time and instead, can correspond to any range suitable to uniquely identify the media asset(e.g., the media assetis encoded with SID/TIC combinations that have not been encoded into other media assets, etc.).

108 102 101 102 108 106 110 106 104 110 108 106 110 106 106 110 102 110 101 1 FIG. The encoder circuitryis provided by the central facility deviceto the media broadcaster device. In some examples, an encoder and/or related software/hardware are provided by a central facility device. In, the encoder circuitryencodes watermark information into the media assetby interfacing with the SID/TIC database. Based on the duration of the media assetand the previously allocated watermark information by the watermark manager circuitry, the SID/TIC databasetransmits the watermark information (e.g., one or more SIDs, one or more TICs, etc.) to the encoder circuitry. In some examples, to uniquely identify the particular media asset, the SID/TIC databasecan allocate a single SID (e.g., corresponding to the media broadcaster, etc.), a start TIC (e.g., the first TIC to be encoded into the media asset, etc.), and an end TIC (e.g., the last TIC to be encoded into the media asset, etc.). While the SID/TIC databaseis depicted as part of the central facility device, in other examples, the SID/TIC databasecan be implemented at any other suitable location (e.g., a third-party location, the cloud, the media broadcaster device, etc.).

108 106 112 112 106 110 112 8 101 112 118 118 112 After receiving the watermark information, the encoder circuitryencodes the media assetwith the watermark information to generate the encoded media asset. The encoded media assetis a version of the media assetwith encoded watermark information from the SID/TIC database. In some examples, the encoded media assetperiodically (e.g., everyframes, etc.) includes a watermark generated from the provided watermark information. In some such examples, each of these encoded watermarks includes the same SID and a different TIC (e.g., beginning with the start TIC proceeding sequentially to the end TIC, etc.).The media broadcaster devicecan provide (e.g., distribute, upload, etc.) the encoded media assetto a MVPD. The MVPDcan then allow a media consumer to consume (e.g., view, listen to, etc.) the encoded media assetat a time convenient to the media consumer (e.g., on-demand, etc.).

108 Further examples of watermark encoding techniques that may be implemented by the example encoder circuitry, and corresponding example watermark detection techniques are described in U.S. Patent No. 8,359,205, entitled “Methods and Apparatus to Perform Audio Watermarking and Watermark Detection and Extraction,” which issued on January 22, 2013, U.S. Patent No. 8,369,972, entitled “Methods and Apparatus to Perform Audio Watermarking Detection and Extraction,” which issued on February 5, 2013, U.S. Publication No. 2010/0223062, entitled “Methods and Apparatus to Perform Audio Watermarking and Watermark Detection and Extraction,” which was published on September 2, 2010, U.S. Patent No. 6,871,180, entitled “Decoding of Information in Audio Signals,” which issued on March 22, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 5,764,763, entitled “Apparatus and Methods for Including Codes in Audio Signals and Decoding,” which issued on June 9, 1998, U.S. Patent No. 5,574,962, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying a Program Including a Sound Signal,” which issued on November 12, 1996, U.S. Patent No. 5,581,800, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying a Program Including a Sound Signal,” which issued on December 3, 1996, U.S. Patent No. 5,787,334, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying a Program Including a Sound Signal,” which issued on July 28, 1998, and U.S. Patent No. 5,450,490, entitled “Apparatus and Methods for Including Codes in Audio Signals and Decoding,” which issued on September 12, 1995, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

1 FIG. 1 FIG. 108 114 114 106 108 114 106 114 116 102 114 118 101 114 116 114 116 106 118 In, the encoder circuitryalso generates metadata. The metadatais a record of the encoding of the media assetby the encoder circuitry. The metadatacan include the encoded watermark information and an identifier of the media asset(e.g., the name of the media asset, etc.). In, the metadatais transmitted to the media identification databaseof the central facility device. In some examples, the metadatacan also include a distribution source identifier (DSID), which can identify the MVPDand/or the media broadcaster associated with the media broadcaster device. The metadatacan be formatted as an Extensible Markup Language (xml) file and/or in any other suitable format. The media identification databaselogs the media identifier and associated watermark information of the metadata. When the watermark information is detected by a media monitor associated with a media consumer, the information identification databasecan associate the detected watermark information with the media identifier, thereby allowing the central facility to determine the media consumer consumed the media assetvia the MVPD.

100 104 108 114 102 100 102 101 100 100 100 The prior art systemincludes a comparatively large number of related processes (e.g., the watermark manager circuitry, the encoder circuitry, the transfer of the metadatato the central facility device, a permission manager associated with the client device, etc., etc.). The prior art systemrequires a number of manual inputs to the system and back and forth communication between the central facility deviceand the media broadcaster device. The systemis tightly coupled and is a closed system, which can be subjected to unwanted disruption. Additionally, in some operating conditions, the manual processing associated with the systemcan cause watermark information to be duplicated during the encoding and metadata process, which can decreasing bandwidth, memory, and processor efficiency.

1 FIG. 2 13 FIGS.- 1 FIG. The following examples refer to a media broadcaster device and a central facility device, similar to the devices described with reference to, except the central facility devices and the media broadcaster device have been modified to accommodate watermark permission allocation and encoding via a multichain blockchain system in accordance with teachings of this disclosure. When the same element number is used in connection withas was used in, it has the same meaning unless indicated otherwise.

2 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. 200 200 201 202 201 202 201 202 201 202 is a block diagram of an example watermark encoding systemimplemented in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. In, the example systemincludes an example media broadcaster deviceand an example central facility deviceof. The devices,can be implemented as any suitable computing device (e.g., a personal computer, a server, etc.). While the devices,are depicted inand described herein as individual devices, the devices,can be implemented by a plurality of devices (e.g., personal computers, laptops, servers, etc.) and/or via cloud service.

2 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. 202 206 210 110 116 201 208 210 101 106 112 118 202 201 212 212 214 216 In the illustrated example of, the central facility deviceincludes an example watermark distributor manager, an example first blockchain clientA, the SID/TIC databaseof, and the media identification databaseof. In the illustrated example of, the media broadcaster deviceincludes an example encoder managerand an example second blockchain clientB, which like the media broadcaster deviceof, encodes the media assetwith watermarks thereby generating the encoded media assetfor use with the MVPD. In the illustrated example of, the central facility deviceand the media broadcaster devicecommunicate via an example network. In the illustrated example of, the networkimplements an example blockchain networkincluding an example blockchain.

206 208 210 201 206 216 110 201 216 216 110 206 216 216 214 201 206 210 201 210 216 216 The watermark distributor managerallocates watermark information (e.g., SIDS, TICs, etc.) and/or encoding software (e.g., the encoder manager, the second blockchain clientB, etc.) to the media broadcaster device. For example, the watermark distributor managercan generate the blockchainassociated with a specific SID of the SID/TIC databaseand grant access to the media broadcaster deviceto conduct transactions on the generated blockchain. In some such examples, each unit of the transaction medium of the blockchainis a TIC of the SID/TIC database. In some examples, the watermark distributor managercan respond to and process permission requests to encode media assets (e.g., the media asset, etc.). In some examples, the permission request can be transmitted over the blockchain(e.g., a request to allocate more TICs for use with the SID associated with the blockchain, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the request can be transmitted over the networkand/or any other suitable means. In some examples, as TICs are requested by the media broadcaster device, the watermark distributor managercan, via the first blockchain clientA, conduct a transaction that transfers the associated TICS to the media broadcaster device. The first blockchain clientA publishes this transaction to a ledger associated with the blockchain, thereby creating an immutable record of the transaction (e.g., the allocated TICS and the associated SID of the blockchain, etc.).

108 208 106 112 106 108 202 212 106 106 216 216 206 106 116 106 208 216 210 202 106 112 208 208 112 118 1 FIG. 1 FIG. 6 FIG. Like the encoder circuitryof, the encoder managerencodes the media assetwith the watermark information to generate the encoded media assetof. In some examples, in response to receiving a media asset to encode with watermark (e.g., the media asset, etc.), the encoder circuitrycan request permission from the central facility device(e.g., via the network, via a blockchain transaction, etc.) to encode the media asset. In some examples, the encoding of the media assetwith the received TICs is conducted as a transaction on the blockchain, thereby creating an immutable record on the blockchain. Such a record enables the watermark distributor managerto verify that the media assetwas encoded with the correct watermark portions and update the media identification databaseaccordingly. In some examples, after encoding the media asset, the encoder managercan revert the allocated TICs, via a transaction on the blockchainconducted by the second blockchain clientB, to the central facility deviceto prevent the erroneous encoding of other media assets with TICs allocated for the media asset. In some examples, after the encoded media assethas been generated by the encoder manager, the encoder managercan publish the encoded media assetto MVPD. An example communication diagram illustrating the permission and encoding process is described below in conjunction with.

210 210 216 214 201 202 210 216 214 201 202 216 210 210 206 208 210 210 206 208 216 201 202 210 210 5 FIG. The blockchain clientsA,B conducts transactions and publishes data transaction records to the blockchainand/or other blockchains of the blockchain networkassociated with the devices,. For example, the first blockchain clientA can create the blockchainon the blockchain networkwith the devices,acting as the only nodes on the generated blockchain. In some examples, the blockchain clientsA,B can enable the watermark distributor managerand encoder manager, respectively, to transfer TICs therebetween. In some examples, the blockchain clientsA,B enable the watermark distributor managerand encoder managerto review and publish to the ledger of the blockchainassociated with the devices,. An example implementation and operation of the blockchain clientsA,B is described below and in connection with.

212 202 201 212 212 212 212 214 202 201 214 201 214 The networkenables communications between the central facility deviceand the media broadcaster device. In some examples, the networkcan be implemented as a cellular network, a satellite network, the internet, or any other suitable wide area network (WAN). In other examples, the networkcan be implemented by a local area network (LAN) and/or a proprietary network. In other examples, the networkcan be a wired connection. In some examples, the networkcan be implemented via multiple networks (e.g., a local area network coupled to a wide area network, etc.). In some examples, prior to communications via the blockchain network, the central facility deviceand the media broadcaster devicecan communicate via conventional communications on the network(e.g., via email, via a web-based platform, etc.) to enable (e.g., register, etc.) the media broadcaster deviceto communicate on the blockchain network.

2 FIG. 2 FIG. 214 212 214 201 202 202 201 214 212 214 202 202 201 201 202 201 201 201 214 In the illustrated example of, the blockchain networkis implemented via the example network. In some examples, some or all of the blockchain networkcan be hosted on the media broadcaster device, the central facility device, another device associated with the media broadcaster, another device associated with the central facility, a third-party service (e.g., a cloud service, etc.), and/or a combination thereof. In the illustrated example of, the central facility deviceand the media broadcaster deviceact as nodes in the blockchain network(e.g. implemented on the network, etc.). In some examples, the blockchains of the blockchain networkassociated with each SID are private and require permission for each node involved in a transaction to read and/or write to the blockchain(s). In some examples, the central facility deviceacts as an administrative node, which generates SID blockchains and grants permissions to other nodes (e.g., media broadcaster devices, etc.) to read the ledger of a SID blockchain and to conduction transactions on that SID blockchain. In some examples, the central facility devicecan provide information regarding the SID blockchain (e.g., a network location, one or more identifiers associated with the SID blockchain, a uniform resource locator (URL), etc.) and/or credentials (e.g., login one or more blockchain tokens, etc.) to the media broadcaster deviceto enable the media broadcaster deviceto conduction transactions on the SID blockchain. Additionally or alternatively, the central facility devicecan provide software (e.g., a pre-programmed executable file, etc.) to the media broadcaster device, which when executed by the media broadcaster deviceprovides (e.g., generates, etc.) a token associated with the SID blockchain that grants permission to the media broadcaster deviceto conduct transactions on a SID blockchain of the blockchain network. Unlike conventional blockchains, multichain systems are private (e.g., only nodes with permission can read and conduct transactions on a blockchain, etc.) and an infinite number of blockchains can be generated.

3 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 206 206 302 304 306 308 310 312 206 206 is a block diagram of the example watermark distributor managerofto allocate watermark code portions via a blockchain client. In the illustrated example of, the watermark distributor managerincludes example blockchain client interface circuitry, example permission manager circuitry, example code manager circuitry, example encoding verification circuitry, example media identification database interface circuitry, and example network interface circuitry. The watermark distributor managerofmay be instantiated (e.g., creating an instance of, bring into being for any length of time, materialize, implement, etc.) by processor circuitry such as a central processing unit executing instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the watermark distributor managerofmay be instantiated (e.g., creating an instance of, bring into being for any length of time, materialize, implement, etc.) by an ASIC or an FPGA structured to perform operations corresponding to the instructions. It should be understood that some or all of the circuitry ofmay, thus, be instantiated at the same or different times. Some or all of the circuitry may be instantiated, for example, in one or more threads executing concurrently on hardware and/or in series on hardware. Moreover, in some examples, some or all of the circuitry ofmay be implemented by microprocessor circuitry executing instructions to implement one or more virtual machines and/or containers.

302 210 302 216 201 302 201 106 302 106 302 202 302 302 7 FIG. The blockchain client interface circuitryinterfaces with the first blockchain clientA to conduct transactions and/or review entries on an associated blockchain. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan conduct a transaction on the blockchainto transfer TICs to the media broadcaster device. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan receive reverted TICs from the media broadcaster deviceafter the encoding of the media asset. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan review the ledger associated with the blockchain to verify the media assethas been encoded and/or to review if the TICs have been allocated to a requesting media broadcasting device. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrydetects a request to encode a media asset from a node on a blockchain administered by the central facility device. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan detect a request to encode an asset on a SID blockchain from a media broadcaster. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing blockchain client interface instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

304 201 304 201 106 304 112 106 304 201 304 304 7 FIG. The permission manager circuitrydetermines if a permission request from the media broadcaster deviceis to be granted. For example, the permission manager circuitrycan base the determination of whether the permission request is to be granted based on an identity of the media broadcaster deviceand/or the media asset. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrycan deny a permission request if an encoded media asset (e.g., the encoded media asset, etc.) has already been generated from the media asset. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrycan deny a request if the media broadcaster devicehas exceeded a quota of allocated TICs over a given period (e.g., a TIC quota over a given month, etc.). If the permission manager circuitrydetermines permission is to be granted to encode the media asset based on any other suitable means. In some examples, the permission manager circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing permission manager instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

306 201 306 216 106 306 306 306 306 7 FIG. The code manager circuitrydetermines which watermark code portions to transfer to the requesting media broadcaster device (e.g., the media broadcaster device, etc.). For example, the code manager circuitrycan transfer TICs via the appropriate SID blockchain to the requesting node (e.g., the blockchainassociated with the media broadcaster device and/or the media asset, etc.). In some examples, the code manager circuitrydetermines the quantity of TICs allocated to the requesting node (e.g., the requesting media broadcaster, etc.) based on the duration of the media asset (e.g., an appropriate number of TICs to encode the media watermark, etc.) and the encoding rate of the watermark associated with the TICs and the SID. In some examples, the code manager circuitryallocates the TICs by conducting a transaction on the SID blockchain. In other examples, the code manager circuitrycan allocate the TICs in any other suitable manner. In some examples, the code manager circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing code manager instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

308 202 308 302 308 106 201 212 308 7 FIG. The encoding verification circuitryverifies the encoding via the transaction records of the blockchain. For example, the central facility devicecan verify the media asset was properly encoded (e.g., with the SID associated with the SID blockchain and allocated TICs, etc.) via the ledger of the SID blockchain. For example, the encoding verification circuitrycan, via the blockchain client interface circuitry, verify the media asset was encoded by checking to verify the encoding is marked on the ledger of the blockchain. In other examples, the encoding verification circuitrycan verify the media assetwas encoded by any other suitable means (e.g., querying the media broadcaster devicevia the network, etc.). In some examples, the encoding verification circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing encoding verification instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

310 116 310 106 116 310 116 310 7 FIG. The media identification database interface circuitryinterfaces with the media identification database. For example, the media identification database interface circuitrycan associate the SID/TIC combination (e.g., the watermark portions, etc.) and the media assetto ensure the media identification databasecan be used to identify the media asset via the SID/TIC combination. In some examples, the media identification database interface circuitrycan edit the media identification databasein any other suitable manner. In some examples, the media identification database interface circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing media identification database interface instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

312 212 312 201 106 212 312 212 312 212 302 214 202 312 201 214 The network interface circuitrycommunicates with other devices over the network. For example, the network interface circuitrycan receive permission requests from a requesting node (e.g., the media broadcaster device, etc.) to encode a media asset (e.g., the media asset, etc.) over the network. In some examples, the network interface circuitrycan inform a requesting node of a permission approval or a permission denial over the network. In other examples, the network interface circuitrycan transmit any other suitable communications over the network. In some examples, prior to communications via the blockchain client interface circuitryand the blockchain network, the central facility devicecan, via network interface circuitry, can send information (e.g., identifiers of a blockchain on the blockchain network, a token of a a blockchain on the blockchain network, credentials for the blockchain network, an executable file enable communications on the blockchain network, etc.) to enable (e.g., register, etc.) the media broadcaster deviceto communicate on the blockchain network.

312 7 FIG. In some examples, the network interface circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing network interface instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

206 202 302 302 912 302 1100 702 708 302 1200 302 302 9 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for interfacing with the blockchain client associated with the central facility device. For example, the means for blockchain interfacing may be implemented by blockchain client interface circuitry. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocks,of. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 304 304 912 1012 1100 704 304 1200 304 304 9 FIG. 10 may FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for granting permission to encode a media asset. For example, the means for permission granting may be implemented by the permission manager circuitry. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, theofbe instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blockof. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the permission manager circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the permission manager circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 306 306 912 306 1100 706 306 1200 306 306 9 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for allocating code portions. For example, the means for allocating code portions may be implemented by code manager circuitry. In some examples, the code manager circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the code manager circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocksof. In some examples, the code manager circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the code manager circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the code manager circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 308 308 912 308 1100 710 308 1200 308 308 9 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for verifying a media asset has been encoded. For example, the means for verifying may be implemented by the encoding verification circuitry. In some examples, the encoding verification circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the encoding verification circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blockof. In some examples, the encoding verification circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the encoding verification circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the encoding verification circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 310 310 912 310 1100 712 310 1200 310 310 9 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for interfacing with a watermark database. For example, the means for database interfacing may be implemented by media identification database interface circuitry. In some examples, the media identification database interface circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the media identification database interface circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blockof. In some examples, the media identification database interface circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the media identification database interface circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the media identification database interface circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 312 312 912 312 1100 702 708 714 312 1200 312 312 9 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the watermark distributor managerincludes means for interfacing with a network. For example, the means for network interfacing may be implemented by the network interface circuitry. In some examples, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocks,,of. In some examples, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the network interface circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

206 302 304 306 308 310 312 206 302 304 306 308 310 312 206 206 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. While an example manner of implementing the watermark distributor managerofis illustrated in, one or more of the elements, processes, and/or devices illustrated inmay be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated, and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example blockchain client interface circuitry, the example permission manager circuitry, the example code manager circuitry, the example encoding verification circuitry, the example media identification database interface circuitry, the network interface circuitry, and/or, more generally, the example watermark distributor managerof, may be implemented by hardware alone or by hardware in combination with software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example blockchain client interface circuitry, the example permission manager circuitry, the example code manager circuitry, the example encoding verification circuitry, the example media identification database interface circuitry, the network interface circuitry, and/or, more generally, the example watermark distributor manager, could be implemented by processor circuitry, analog circuit(s), digital circuit(s), logic circuit(s), programmable processor(s), programmable microcontroller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)) such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Further still, the example watermark distributor managerofmay include one or more elements, processes, and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

4 FIG. 2 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 4 FIG. 208 208 402 404 406 408 412 208 208 is a block diagram of the example encoder managerofto encode a media asset with code portions received from a blockchain. In the illustrated example of, the encoder managerincludes example blockchain client interface circuitry, example media asset manager circuitry, example permission requestor circuitry, example watermark encoder circuitry, and example network interface circuitry, The encoder managerofmay be instantiated (e.g., creating an instance of, bring into being for any length of time, materialize, implement, etc.) by processor circuitry such as a central processing unit executing instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the encoder managerofmay be instantiated (e.g., creating an instance of, bring into being for any length of time, materialize, implement, etc.) by an ASIC or an FPGA structured to perform operations corresponding to the instructions. It should be understood that some or all of the circuitry ofmay, thus, be instantiated at the same or different times. Some or all of the circuitry may be instantiated, for example, in one or more threads executing concurrently on hardware and/or in series on hardware. Moreover, in some examples, some or all of the circuitry ofmay be implemented by microprocessor circuitry executing instructions to implement one or more virtual machines and/or containers.

402 210 402 202 402 202 106 112 402 106 402 8 FIG. The blockchain client interface circuitryinterfaces with the second blockchain clientB to conduct transactions and/or review entries on an associated blockchain. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan conduct a transaction on the blockchain to receive TICs from the central facility device. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan revert TICs to the central facility deviceafter the encoding of the media assetand the generation of the encoded media asset. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan review the ledger associated with the blockchain to verify if given TICs have been allocated and/or if a given media assethas been encoded with watermark portions. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing blockchain client interface instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

404 118 404 106 201 106 404 404 8 FIG. The media asset manager circuitryreceives and manages the media assets to be encoded and/or published to the MVPD. For example, the media asset manager circuitrycan access the media assetfrom a database associated with the media broadcaster device. In some examples, the media assetcan be extracted by the media asset manager circuitryfrom a live media stream (e.g., a live media broadcast, etc.). In some examples, the media asset manager circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing media asset manager instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

406 106 404 106 406 402 412 202 106 406 402 406 202 406 412 212 406 406 8 FIG. The permission requestor circuitrytransmits and manages requests for permission to encode media assets (e.g., the media asset, etc.). For example, in response to the media asset manager circuitryreceiving the media asset, the permission requestor circuitrycan, via the blockchain client interface circuitryand/or the network interface circuitry, transmits a request to the central facility deviceto encode the media asset. In some examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan send the request, via the blockchain client interface circuitryvia a transaction on a SID blockchain associated with the permission requestor circuitry, to the administrative node of the SID blockchain (e.g., the central facility device, etc.). In some examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan send the request, via the network interface circuitry, on the network. In other examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan transmit the request in any other suitable manner. In some examples, the permission requestor circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing permission requestor instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

408 106 408 106 408 408 8 FIG. The watermark encoder circuitryencodes the media assetwith the SID associated with the SID blockchain and the received TICs. For example, the watermark encoder circuitrycan encode the media assetwith the received TICs (e.g., first watermark portions, etc.) and the SID associated with the blockchain (e.g., second watermark portions, etc.) using any appropriate watermarking technique(s). In other examples, the watermark encoder circuitrycan encode the media asset in any other suitable manner. In some examples, the encoding of the media asset can be recorded on the ledger associated with the SID blockchain. In some examples, the watermark encoder circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing watermark encoder instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

410 112 118 410 118 410 112 410 8 FIG. The media asset publisher circuitrypublishes the encoded media assetto the MVPD. For example, the media asset publisher circuitrycan upload the encoded media asset to a server associated with the MVPD. In other examples, the media asset publisher circuitrycan publish the encoded media assetby any other suitable means. In some examples, the media asset publisher circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing media asset publisher instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

412 212 312 202 106 212 412 202 106 212 302 214 312 202 201 214 The network interface circuitrycommunicates with other devices over the network. For example, the network interface circuitrycan request permission from an administrator node (e.g., the central facility device, etc.) to encode a media asset (e.g., the media asset, etc.) over the network. In some examples, the network interface circuitrycan inform the central facility devicethat the media assethas been encoded via the network. In some examples, prior to communications via the blockchain client interface circuitryand the blockchain network, the media broadcaster device can, via network interface circuitry, can receive information (e.g., identifiers of a blockchain on the blockchain network, a token of a a blockchain on the blockchain network, credentials for the blockchain network, an executable file enable communications on the blockchain network, etc.) from the client facility deviceto enable (e.g., register, etc.) the media broadcaster deviceto communicate on the blockchain network.

412 8 FIG. In some examples, the network interface circuitryis instantiated by processor circuitry executing network interface instructions and/or configured to perform operations such as those represented by the flowchart of.

208 201 402 402 1012 402 1100 808 812 402 1200 402 402 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 8 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for interfacing with the blockchain client associated with the media broadcaster device. For example, the means for blockchain interfacing may be implemented by blockchain client interface circuitry. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocks,of. In some examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 404 404 1012 404 1100 702 704 404 1200 404 404 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for managing a media asset. For example, the means for managing may be implemented by media asset manager circuitry. In some examples, the media asset manager circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the media asset manager circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocks,of. In some examples, the media asset manager circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the media asset manager circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the media asset manager circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 406 406 1012 406 1100 802 406 1200 406 406 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 8 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for requesting permission to encode a media asset. For example, the means for requesting permission may be implemented by the permission requestor circuitry. In some examples, the permission requestor circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the permission requestor circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocksof. In some examples, the permission requestor circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the permission requestor circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the permission requestor circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 408 408 1012 408 1100 804 806 408 1200 408 408 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 8 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for encoding a media asset. For example, the means for encoding may be implemented by the watermark encoder circuitry. In some examples, the watermark encoder circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the watermark encoder circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blocks,of. In some examples, the watermark encoder circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the watermark encoder circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the watermark encoder circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 410 410 1012 410 1100 812 410 1200 410 410 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 8 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for publishing a media asset. For example, the means for publishing may be implemented by the media asset publisher circuitry. In some examples, the media asset publisher circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the media asset publisher circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blockof. In some examples, the media asset publisher circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the media asset publisher circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the media asset publisher circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 412 412 1012 412 1100 802 412 1200 412 412 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 7 FIG. 12 FIG. In some examples, the encoder managerincludes means for interfacing with a network. For example, the means for interfacing with a network may be implemented by the network interface circuitry. In some examples, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by processor circuitry such as the example processor circuitryof. For instance, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by the example microprocessorofexecuting machine executable instructions such as those implemented by at least blockof. In some examples, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by hardware logic circuitry, which may be implemented by an ASIC, XPU, or the FPGA circuitryofstructured to perform operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions. Additionally or alternatively, the network interface circuitrymay be instantiated by any other combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, the network interface circuitrymay be implemented by at least one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, an XPU, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions and/or to perform some or all of the operations corresponding to the machine readable instructions without executing software or firmware, but other structures are likewise appropriate.

208 402 404 406 408 410 412 208 402 404 406 408 410 412 208 208 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 3 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 FIG. While an example manner of implementing the encoder managerofis illustrated in, one or more of the elements, processes, and/or devices illustrated inmay be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated, and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example blockchain client interface circuitry, the media asset manager circuitry, the permission requestor circuitry, the watermark encoder circuitry, the media asset publisher circuitry, the network interface circuitryand/or, more generally, the example encoder managerof, may be implemented by hardware alone or by hardware in combination with software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example blockchain client interface circuitry, the media asset manager circuitry, the permission requestor circuitry, the watermark encoder circuitry, the media asset publisher circuitry, the network interface circuitry, and/or, more generally, the example encoder manager, could be implemented by processor circuitry, analog circuit(s), digital circuit(s), logic circuit(s), programmable processor(s), programmable microcontroller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)) such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Further still, the example encoder managerofmay include one or more elements, processes, and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

5 FIG. 2 FIG. 2 FIG. 5 FIG. 5 FIG. 500 210 202 210 201 500 502 504 500 216 is a block diagram of a blockchain clientthat can be used to implement the first blockchain clientA of the central facility deviceofand/or the second blockchain clientB of the media broadcaster deviceof. The example blockchain clientofincludes an example transaction publisherand an example transaction auditor. In the illustrated example of, the blockchain clientinterfaces with an example blockchain.

500 502 216 502 216 201 202 502 116 112 2 FIG. The blockchain clientincludes the transaction publisherto publish records of data transactions to the blockchain. For example, to publish a record of a transaction, the transaction publishercan transmit a request containing the record to one or more of the nodes associated with the blockchain(e.g., the devices,, etc.). In response to the request, one or more of the nodes will include the record in a block of records and attempt to add the block to the blockchain in accordance with the blockchain technology described in conjunction with. In some examples, a given record to be published by the transaction publisherincludes a label (e.g., a hash, etc.) identifying the data (e.g., the associated media asset, the encoded TICs, etc.) that is associated with the transaction. In some examples, this information can be used by the media identification databaseto the associated the media assetwith the associated TIC.

500 504 216 504 216 504 504 201 202 201 202 The blockchain clientincludes the transaction auditorto audit the records contained in the blockchain. Because the records contained in the blockchain include labels (e.g., hashes) identifying the data that is the subject of each record, the transaction auditorcan examine the blockchainto identify records associated with specific data of interest. If a record associated with the specific data of interest is found, the transaction auditorcan further examine the contents of the record, such as the identifier of the publisher device included in the record, the encoded TICs, etc. to determine whether the data transaction associated with the record was proper or improper. If the data transaction was improper, the transaction auditorcan notify an appropriate device (e.g., one or more devices,, etc.) of the improper data transaction to enable an appropriate remedial action (e.g., such as presenting a message at the associated node, sending a message to a user of one or more of the devices,, etc.).

6 FIG. 6 FIG. 6 FIG. 6 FIG. 202 201 201 602 202 602 202 604 202 201 604 604 201 202 606 201 604 604 606 201 604 606 604 604 604 606 201 201 604 Referring now to,is an example communication diagram illustrating an example transaction on a SID blockchain between the central facility deviceand a media broadcaster device. In the illustrated example of, the media broadcaster devicebegins by sending an example requestto the central facility device. The example requestfor permission to begin encoding media assets. In response to receiving the request, the central facility devicegenerates an example blockchain. For example, the central facility devicecan generate a SID to be associated with the media broadcaster deviceand a corresponding blockchain. In such examples, the generation of the blockchainassociated with the SID involves the creation of TICs as the transaction medium of the blockchain and a ledger associated with TICs. In the illustrated example of, the blockchainis generated with a finite number of TICs. After creating the blockchain for the media broadcaster device, the central facility devicegrants an example permissionto the media broadcaster deviceto conduct transactions on the blockchainand view the ledger associated with the blockchain. In some examples, the permissioncan include credentials and/or a token to enable the media broadcaster deviceto conduct transactions on the blockchain. In some examples, the permissioncan include information related to the blockchain(e.g., a URL associated with the blockchain, one or more identifiers associated with the blockchain, etc.). In some examples, the permissioncan include software that, when executed by the media broadcaster device, enables the media broadcaster deviceto conduct transactions on the blockchain(e.g., software that generates a token, etc.).

606 201 607 607 106 607 607 201 608 604 201 201 610 604 610 604 610 201 202 612 After receiving the permission, the media broadcaster devicecan generate a second request. The example second requestis a request to encode a watermark into a media asset (e.g., the media asset, etc.). For example, the second requestcan include an identification of the media asset (e.g., a name, etc.) and/or a duration associated with the media asset to be encoded. After receiving the second request, the media broadcaster devicecan assign TICs via an example transactionof the blockchainto the media broadcaster device. After being assigned the TICs, the media broadcaster devicecan perform an example actionto encode the media assets with the assigned TICs and the SID associated with the blockchain. In some examples, the actioncan be recorded on the ledger of the blockchain. After conducting the actionto encode the media asset, the media broadcaster devicereverts the assigned TICs to the central facility devicevia an example second transaction.

6 FIG. 6 FIG. 201 612 114 604 201 604 In the illustrated example of, the media broadcaster deviceis not able to reuse the assigned TICs after the second transaction. Additionally, the process illustrated inobviates the need for the generation of metadata (e.g., the metadata, etc.) as the information is stored in the ledger associated with the blockchain. That is, the media broadcaster devicecan read the ledger of the blockchainto identify the media asset associated with a specific TIC/SID combination.

2 3 FIGS.and 7 FIG. 9 FIG. 11 FIGS. 7 FIG. 912 900 12 206 A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions, which may be executed to configure processor circuitry to implement the watermark distributor manager ofis shown in. The machine readable instructions may be one or more executable programs or portion(s) of an executable program for execution by processor circuitry, such as the processor circuitryshown in the example processor platformdiscussed below in connection withand/or the example processor circuitry discussed below in connection withand/or. The program may be embodied in software stored on one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media such as a compact disk (CD), a floppy disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, a volatile memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) of any type, etc.), or a non-volatile memory (e.g., electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FLASH memory, an HDD, an SSD, etc.) associated with processor circuitry located in one or more hardware devices, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by one or more hardware devices other than the processor circuitry and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. The machine readable instructions may be distributed across multiple hardware devices and/or executed by two or more hardware devices (e.g., a server and a client hardware device). For example, the client hardware device may be implemented by an endpoint client hardware device (e.g., a hardware device associated with a user) or an intermediate client hardware device (e.g., a radio access network (RAN)) gateway that may facilitate communication between a server and an endpoint client hardware device). Similarly, the non-transitory computer readable storage media may include one or more mediums located in one or more hardware devices. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in, many other methods of implementing the example watermark distributor managermay alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware. The processor circuitry may be distributed in different network locations and/or local to one or more hardware devices (e.g., a single-core processor (e.g., a single core central processor unit (CPU)), a multi-core processor (e.g., a multi-core CPU), etc.) in a single machine, multiple processors distributed across multiple servers of a server rack, multiple processors distributed across one or more server racks, a CPU and/or a FPGA located in the same package (e.g., the same integrated circuit (IC) package or in two or more separate housings, etc.).

204 FIG. 2 4 FIGS.and 8 FIG. 8 FIG. 11 FIGS. 8 FIG. 1012 1000 12 208 A flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions, which may be executed to configure processor circuitry to implement the encoder manager ofofis shown in. The machine readable instructions may be one or more executable programs or portion(s) of an executable program for execution by processor circuitry, such as the processor circuitryshown in the example processor platformdiscussed below in connection withand/or the example processor circuitry discussed below in connection withand/or. The program may be embodied in software stored on one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media such as a compact disk (CD), a floppy disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, a volatile memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) of any type, etc.), or a non-volatile memory (e.g., electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FLASH memory, an HDD, an SSD, etc.) associated with processor circuitry located in one or more hardware devices, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by one or more hardware devices other than the processor circuitry and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. The machine readable instructions may be distributed across multiple hardware devices and/or executed by two or more hardware devices (e.g., a server and a client hardware device). For example, the client hardware device may be implemented by an endpoint client hardware device (e.g., a hardware device associated with a user) or an intermediate client hardware device (e.g., a radio access network (RAN)) gateway that may facilitate communication between a server and an endpoint client hardware device). Similarly, the non-transitory computer readable storage media may include one or more mediums located in one or more hardware devices. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in, many other methods of implementing the example encoder managermay alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., processor circuitry, discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware. The processor circuitry may be distributed in different network locations and/or local to one or more hardware devices (e.g., a single-core processor (e.g., a single core central processor unit (CPU)), a multi-core processor (e.g., a multi-core CPU), etc.) in a single machine, multiple processors distributed across multiple servers of a server rack, multiple processors distributed across one or more server racks, a CPU and/or a FPGA located in the same package (e.g., the same integrated circuit (IC) package or in two or more separate housings, etc.).

The machine readable instructions described herein may be stored in one or more of a compressed format, an encrypted format, a fragmented format, a compiled format, an executable format, a packaged format, etc. Machine readable instructions as described herein may be stored as data or a data structure (e.g., as portions of instructions, code, representations of code, etc.) that may be utilized to create, manufacture, and/or produce machine executable instructions. For example, the machine readable instructions may be fragmented and stored on one or more storage devices and/or computing devices (e.g., servers) located at the same or different locations of a network or collection of networks (e.g., in the cloud, in edge devices, etc.). The machine readable instructions may require one or more of installation, modification, adaptation, updating, combining, supplementing, configuring, decryption, decompression, unpacking, distribution, reassignment, compilation, etc., in order to make them directly readable, interpretable, and/or executable by a computing device and/or other machine. For example, the machine readable instructions may be stored in multiple parts, which are individually compressed, encrypted, and/or stored on separate computing devices, wherein the parts when decrypted, decompressed, and/or combined form a set of machine executable instructions that implement one or more operations that may together form a program such as that described herein.

In another example, the machine readable instructions may be stored in a state in which they may be read by processor circuitry, but require addition of a library (e.g., a dynamic link library (DLL)), a software development kit (SDK), an application programming interface (API), etc., in order to execute the machine readable instructions on a particular computing device or other device. In another example, the machine readable instructions may need to be configured (e.g., settings stored, data input, network addresses recorded, etc.) before the machine readable instructions and/or the corresponding program(s) can be executed in whole or in part. Thus, machine readable media, as used herein, may include machine readable instructions and/or program(s) regardless of the particular format or state of the machine readable instructions and/or program(s) when stored or otherwise at rest or in transit.

The machine readable instructions described herein can be represented by any past, present, or future instruction language, scripting language, programming language, etc. For example, the machine readable instructions may be represented using any of the following languages: C, C++, Java, C#, Perl, Python, JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Structured Query Language (SQL), Swift, etc.

7 8 FIGS.and As mentioned above, the example operations ofmay be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on one or more non-transitory computer and/or machine readable media such as optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, an HDD, a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a CD, a DVD, a cache, a RAM of any type, a register, and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the terms non-transitory computer readable medium and non-transitory computer readable storage medium are expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.

“Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are used herein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim employs any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises, includes, comprising, including, having, etc.) as a preamble or within a claim recitation of any kind, it is to be understood that additional elements, terms, etc., may be present without falling outside the scope of the corresponding claim or recitation. As used herein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in, for example, a preamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and “including” are open ended. The term “and/or” when used, for example, in a form such as A, B, and/or C refers to any combination or subset of A, B, C such as (1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, (6) B with C, or (7) A with B and with C. As used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) at least one A and at least one B. As used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, or (3) at least one A and at least one B.

As used herein, singular references (e.g., “a”, “an”, “first”, “second”, etc.) do not exclude a plurality. The term “a” or “an” object, as used herein, refers to one or more of that object. The terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more”, and “at least one” are used interchangeably herein. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method actions may be implemented by, e.g., the same entity or object. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different examples or claims, these may possibly be combined, and the inclusion in different examples or claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous.

7 FIG. 7 FIG. 6 FIG. 700 206 216 700 702 302 216 202 302 602 216 201 202 is a flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions and/or example operationsthat may be executed and/or instantiated by the watermark distributor managerto allocate TICs to a media broadcaster via the blockchainto encode a media asset. The machine readable instructions and/or the operationsofbegin at block, at which the blockchain client interface circuitrydetects a request to encode a media asset from a node on the blockchainadministered by the central facility device. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan detect a request (e.g., the first requestof, etc.) to encode an asset on the blockchainassociated with the media broadcaster deviceand/or with the central facility device. In other examples, the request can be received from any other suitable source and/or means.

704 304 304 201 106 304 112 106 304 201 304 700 706 304 714 At block, the permission manager circuitrydetermines if permission to encode the media asset is to be granted. For example, the permission manager circuitrycan base the determination of whether the permission request is to be granted on an identity of the media broadcaster deviceand/or the media asset. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrycan deny a permission request if an encoded media asset (e.g., the encoded media asset, etc.) has already been generated from the media asset. In some examples, the permission manager circuitrycan deny a request if the media broadcaster devicehas exceeded a quota of allocated TICs over a given period (e.g., a TIC quota over a given month, etc.). If the permission manager circuitrydetermines permission is to be granted to encode the media asset, the operationsadvance to block. If the permission manager circuitrydetermines permission is not to be granted to encode the media asset, the operations advance to block.

706 306 306 216 306 306 216 306 At block, the code manager circuitryallocates TICs to the requesting node based on the duration of the media asset. For example, the code manager circuitrycan allocate TICs via the blockchainto the node. In some examples, the code manager circuitrydetermines the quantity of TICs allocated to the requesting node (e.g., the requesting media broadcaster, etc.) based on the duration of the media asset (e.g., an appropriate number of TICs to encode the media watermark, etc.) and the encoding rate of the watermark associated with the TICs and the SID. In some examples, the code manager circuitryallocates the TICs by conducting a transaction on the blockchain. In other examples, the code manager circuitrycan allocate the TICs in any other suitable manner.

708 302 302 202 302 At block, the blockchain client interface circuitryreceives the reverted TICs after the node encodes the media asset. For example, after encoding the media asset, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan, via a transaction on the SID blockchain, receive allocated TICs sent back to the central facility deviceby the node. In other examples, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan receive the reverted TICs by any other suitable means.

710 308 202 216 216 308 302 216 308 106 201 212 At block, the encoding verification circuitryverifies the encoding via the transaction records of the blockchain. For example, the central facility devicecan verify the media asset was properly encoded (e.g., with the SID associated with the blockchainand allocated TICs, etc.) via the ledger of the blockchain. For example, the encoding verification circuitrycan, via the blockchain client interface circuitry, verify the media asset was encoded by checking to verify the encoding is marked on the ledger of the blockchain. In other examples, the encoding verification circuitrycan verify the media assetwas encoded by any other suitable means (e.g., querying the media broadcaster devicevia the network, etc.).

712 306 110 306 110 306 At block, the code manager circuitrymarks the reverted TICs as encoded in the SID/TIC database. For example, the code manager circuitrycan indicate in the SID/TIC databasethat the SID and TIC codes have been used. In some such examples, the code manager circuitryprevents the SID/TIC combination from being encoded in other media assets, thereby making identification of the encoded media asset more efficient (e.g., reducing the likelihood signature-based identification will need to be employed, etc.)

713 310 106 116 310 116 At block, the media identification database interface circuitrycan associate the SID/TIC combination (e.g., the watermark portions, etc.) and the media assetto ensure the media identification databasecan be used to identify the media asset via the SID/TIC combination. In some examples, the media identification database interface circuitrycan edit the media identification databasein any other suitable manner.

714 412 412 212 412 216 412 700 At block, the network interface circuitryinforms the media broadcaster of the permission denial. For example, the network interface circuitrycan transmit the permission request over the network. In other examples, the network interface circuitrycan transmit a permission denial notification over the blockchain. In other examples, the network interface circuitrycan transmit the permission notification by any other suitable means. The operationsend.

8 FIG. 8 FIG. 700 800 801 404 106 404 106 201 106 404 is a flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions and/or example operationsthat may be executed and/or instantiated by processor circuitry to encode a media asset with watermark information received via a blockchain. The machine readable instructions and/or the operationsofbegin at block, at which the media asset manager circuitryreceives the media asset. For example, the media asset manager circuitrycan access the media assetfrom a database associated with the media broadcaster device. In some examples, the media assetcan be extracted by the media asset manager circuitryfrom a live media stream (e.g., a live media broadcast, etc.).

802 406 402 412 406 607 202 118 406 216 406 216 406 6 FIG. At block, at which the permission requestor circuitry, via the blockchain client interface circuitryand/or the network interface circuitry, transmits a request to encode a media asset. For example, the permission requestor circuitrycan send a request (e.g., the second requestof, etc.) to an administrative node (e.g., the central facility device, etc.) prior to uploading a media asset to a multichannel on-demand service (e.g., MVPD, etc.). In some examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan send the request via the blockchainassociated with the permission requestor circuitrythe administrative node of the blockchain. In other examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan transmit the request in any other suitable manner.

804 406 406 402 201 406 201 800 806 201 802 At block, the permission requestor circuitrydetermines if the requested TICS and/or permission TICs to encode the media asset have been received. For example, if the permission requestor circuitrycan, via the blockchain client interface circuitry, determine if a transaction has occurred transferring the requested TICs to the media broadcaster device. In other examples, the permission requestor circuitrycan determine if the permission has been received by any other suitable means. If the media broadcaster devicedetermines the TICs have been received, the operationsadvances to block. If the media broadcaster devicedetermines the TICs have not been received, the operations return to block.

806 408 106 216 408 106 216 408 106 106 216 At block, the watermark encoder circuitryencodes the media assetwith the SID associated with the blockchainand the received TICs. For example, the watermark encoder circuitrycan encode the media assetwith the received TICs (e.g., first watermark portions, etc.) and the SID associated with the blockchain(e.g., second watermark portions, etc.) using any appropriate watermarking techniques. In other examples, the watermark encoder circuitrycan encode the media assetin any other suitable manner. In some examples, the encoding of the media assetcan be recorded on the ledger associated with the blockchain.

808 402 216 402 216 106 408 106 216 808 At block, the blockchain client interface circuitrypublishes the encoding of the media asset of the blockchain. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan conduct a transaction on the blockchainto indicate the media assethas been encoded with the requested TICs. In other examples, the watermark encoder circuitrycan encode the media assetvia a transaction on the blockchain. In some examples, the execution of blockcan be omitted.

810 402 402 216 402 412 At block, the blockchain client interface circuitryreverts the encoding TICs to the administrative node. For example, the blockchain client interface circuitrycan conduct a transaction on the blockchainto transmit the TICs back to the administrative node. In other examples, the blockchain client interface circuitryand/or the network interface circuitrycan revert the encoding TICs back to the administrative node by any other suitable means.

812 410 112 118 410 118 410 112 800 At block, the media asset publisher circuitrypublishes the encoded media assetto the MVPD. For example, the media asset publisher circuitrycan upload the encoded media asset to a server associated with the MVPD. In other examples, the media asset publisher circuitrycan publish the encoded media assetby any other suitable means. The operationsend.

9 FIG. 7 FIG. 2 3 FIGS.and 900 206 TM is a block diagram of an example processor platformstructured to execute and/or instantiate the machine readable instructions and/or the operations ofto implement the watermark distributor managerof. The processor platform 900 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, a digital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personal video recorder, a set top box, a headset (e.g., an augmented reality (AR) headset, a virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.) or other wearable device, or any other type of computing device.

900 912 912 912 912 912 302 304 306 308 310 312 The processor platformof the illustrated example includes processor circuitry. The processor circuitryof the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor circuitrycan be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, FPGAs, microprocessors, CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, and/or microcontrollers from any desired family or manufacturer. The processor circuitrymay be implemented by one or more semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) devices. In this example, the processor circuitryimplements the blockchain client interface circuitry, the permission manager circuitry, the code manager circuitry, the encoding verification circuitry, the media identification database interface circuitry, and the network interface circuitry.

912 913 912 914 916 918 914 916 914 916 917 The processor circuitryof the illustrated example includes a local memory(e.g., a cache, registers, etc.). The processor circuitryof the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memoryand a non-volatile memoryby a bus. The volatile memorymay be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®), and/or any other type of RAM device. The non-volatile memorymay be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory,of the illustrated example is controlled by a memory controller.

900 920 920 The processor platformof the illustrated example also includes interface circuitry. The interface circuitrymay be implemented by hardware in accordance with any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interface, and/or a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface.

922 920 922 912 922 In the illustrated example, one or more input devicesare connected to the interface circuitry. The input device(s)permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor circuitry. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, an isopoint device, and/or a voice recognition system.

924 920 924 920 One or more output devicesare also connected to the interface circuitryof the illustrated example. The output device(s)can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer, and/or speaker. The interface circuitryof the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip, and/or graphics processor circuitry such as a GPU.

920 926 The interface circuitryof the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) by a network. The communication can be by, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, an optical connection, etc.

900 928 928 The processor platformof the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devicesto store software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devicesinclude magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, floppy disk drives, HDDs, CDs, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, solid state storage devices such as flash memory devices and/or SSDs, and DVD drives.

932 928 914 916 7 FIG. The machine readable instructions, which may be implemented by the machine readable instructions of, may be stored in the mass storage device, in the volatile memory, in the non-volatile memory, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

10 FIG. 8 FIG. 2 4 FIGS.and 1000 800 208 TM is a block diagram of an example processor platformstructured to execute and/or instantiate the machine readable instructions and/or the operationsofto implement the encoder managerof. The processor platform 1000 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, a digital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personal video recorder, a set top box, a headset (e.g., an augmented reality (AR) headset, a virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.) or other wearable device, or any other type of computing device.

1000 1012 1012 1012 1012 912 402 404 406 408 410 412 The processor platformof the illustrated example includes processor circuitry. The processor circuitryof the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor circuitrycan be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, FPGAs, microprocessors, CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, and/or microcontrollers from any desired family or manufacturer. The processor circuitrymay be implemented by one or more semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) devices. In this example, the processor circuitryimplements the blockchain client interface circuitry, the media asset manager circuitry, the permission requestor circuitry, the watermark encoder circuitry, the media asset publisher circuitry, and the network interface circuitry.

1012 1013 1012 1014 1016 1018 1014 1016 1014 1016 1017 The processor circuitryof the illustrated example includes a local memory(e.g., a cache, registers, etc.). The processor circuitryof the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memoryand a non-volatile memoryby a bus. The volatile memorymay be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®), and/or any other type of RAM device. The non-volatile memorymay be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory,of the illustrated example is controlled by a memory controller.

1000 1020 1020 The processor platformof the illustrated example also includes interface circuitry. The interface circuitrymay be implemented by hardware in accordance with any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interface, and/or a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface.

1022 1020 1022 1012 1022 In the illustrated example, one or more input devicesare connected to the interface circuitry. The input device(s)permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor circuitry. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, an isopoint device, and/or a voice recognition system.

1024 1020 1024 1020 One or more output devicesare also connected to the interface circuitryof the illustrated example. The output device(s)can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer, and/or speaker. The interface circuitryof the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip, and/or graphics processor circuitry such as a GPU.

1020 1026 The interface circuitryof the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) by a network. The communication can be by, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, an optical connection, etc.

1000 1028 1028 The processor platformof the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devicesto store software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devicesinclude magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, floppy disk drives, HDDs, CDs, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, solid state storage devices such as flash memory devices and/or SSDs, and DVD drives.

1032 1028 1014 1016 8 FIG. The machine readable instructions, which may be implemented by the machine readable instructions of, may be stored in the mass storage device, in the volatile memory, in the non-volatile memory, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

11 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 7 FIGS. 3 4 FIGS.and 3 4 FIGS.and 7 8 FIGS.and/or 912 1012 912 1012 1100 1100 8 1100 1100 1102 1100 1102 1100 1102 1102 1102 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryof. In this example the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryofis/are implemented by a general purpose microprocessor. The general purpose microprocessor(e.g., microprocessor circuitry, etc.) executes some or all of the machine readable instructions of the flowcharts ofand/orto effectively instantiate the circuitry ofas logic circuits to perform the operations corresponding to those machine readable instructions. In some such examples, the circuitry ofis instantiated by the hardware circuits of the microprocessorin combination with the instructions. For example, the microprocessormay implement multi-core hardware circuitry such as a CPU, a DSP, a GPU, an XPU, etc. Although it may include any number of example cores(e.g., 1 core), the microprocessorof this example is a multi-core semiconductor device including N cores. The coresof the microprocessormay operate independently or may cooperate to execute machine readable instructions. For example, machine code corresponding to a firmware program, an embedded software program, or a software program may be executed by one of the coresor may be executed by multiple ones of the coresat the same or different times. In some examples, the machine code corresponding to the firmware program, the embedded software program, or the software program is split into threads and executed in parallel by two or more of the cores. The software program may correspond to a portion or all of the machine readable instructions and/or operations represented by the flowcharts of.

1102 1104 1104 1102 1104 1104 1102 1106 1102 1106 1102 1120 1 1100 1110 2 1110 1120 1102 1110 914 916 1014 1016 9 FIG. 10 FIG. The coresmay communicate by a first example bus. In some examples, the first busmay implement a communication bus to effectuate communication associated with one(s) of the cores. For example, the first busmay implement at least one of an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus, a PCI bus, or a PCIe bus. Additionally or alternatively, the first busmay implement any other type of computing or electrical bus. The coresmay obtain data, instructions, and/or signals from one or more external devices by example interface circuitry. The coresmay output data, instructions, and/or signals to the one or more external devices by the interface circuitry. Although the coresof this example include example cache(e.g., Level(L1) cache that may be split into an L1 data cache and an L1 instruction cache), the microprocessoralso includes example shared memorythat may be shared by the cores (e.g., Level(L2_ cache)) for high-speed access to data and/or instructions. Data and/or instructions may be transferred (e.g., shared) by writing to and/or reading from the shared memory. The cacheof each of the coresand the shared memorymay be part of a hierarchy of storage devices including multiple levels of cache memory and the main memory (e.g., the main memory,of, the main memory,of, etc.). Typically, higher levels of memory in the hierarchy exhibit lower access time and have smaller storage capacity than lower levels of memory. Changes in the various levels of the cache hierarchy are managed (e.g., coordinated) by a cache coherency policy.

1102 1102 1114 1116 1118 1120 1122 1102 1114 1102 1116 1102 1116 1116 1116 1116 1118 1116 1102 1118 1118 1118 1102 1122 11 FIG. Each coremay be referred to as a CPU, DSP, GPU, etc., or any other type of hardware circuitry. Each coreincludes control unit circuitry, arithmetic and logic (AL) circuitry(sometimes referred to as an ALU), a plurality of registers, the L1 cache, and a second example bus. Other structures may be present. For example, each coremay include vector unit circuitry, single instruction multiple data (SIMD) unit circuitry, load/store unit (LSU) circuitry, branch/jump unit circuitry, floating-point unit (FPU) circuitry, etc. The control unit circuitryincludes semiconductor-based circuits structured to control (e.g., coordinate) data movement within the corresponding core. The AL circuitryincludes semiconductor-based circuits structured to perform one or more mathematic and/or logic operations on the data within the corresponding core. The AL circuitryof some examples performs integer based operations. In other examples, the AL circuitryalso performs floating point operations. In yet other examples, the AL circuitrymay include first AL circuitry that performs integer based operations and second AL circuitry that performs floating point operations. In some examples, the AL circuitrymay be referred to as an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). The registersare semiconductor-based structures to store data and/or instructions such as results of one or more of the operations performed by the AL circuitryof the corresponding core. For example, the registersmay include vector register(s), SIMD register(s), general purpose register(s), flag register(s), segment register(s), machine specific register(s), instruction pointer register(s), control register(s), debug register(s), memory management register(s), machine check register(s), etc. The registersmay be arranged in a bank as shown in. Alternatively, the registersmay be organized in any other arrangement, format, or structure including distributed throughout the coreto shorten access time. The second busmay implement at least one of an I2C bus, a SPI bus, a PCI bus, or a PCIe bus.

1102 1100 1100 Each coreand/or, more generally, the microprocessormay include additional and/or alternate structures to those shown and described above. For example, one or more clock circuits, one or more power supplies, one or more power gates, one or more cache home agents (CHAs), one or more converged/common mesh stops (CMSs), one or more shifters (e.g., barrel shifter(s)) and/or other circuitry may be present. The microprocessoris a semiconductor device fabricated to include many transistors interconnected to implement the structures described above in one or more integrated circuits (ICs) contained in one or more packages. The processor circuitry may include and/or cooperate with one or more accelerators. In some examples, accelerators are implemented by logic circuitry to perform certain tasks more quickly and/or efficiently than can be done by a general purpose processor. Examples of accelerators include ASICs and FPGAs such as those discussed herein. A GPU or other programmable device can also be an accelerator. Accelerators may be on-board the processor circuitry, in the same chip package as the processor circuitry and/or in one or more separate packages from the processor circuitry.

12 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 912 1012 912 1012 1200 1200 1100 1200 is a block diagram of another example implementation of the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryof. In this example the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryofis/are implemented by FPGA circuitry. The FPGA circuitrycan be used, for example, to perform operations that could otherwise be performed by the example microprocessorofexecuting corresponding machine readable instructions. However, once configured, the FPGA circuitryinstantiates the machine readable instructions in hardware and, thus, can often execute the operations faster than they could be performed by a general purpose microprocessor executing the corresponding software.

1100 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 11 FIG. 7 8 FIGS.and 12 FIG. 7 8 FIGS.and 7 8 FIGS.and 7 4 FIG.and 7 8 FIGS.and More specifically, in contrast to the microprocessorofdescribed above (which is a general purpose device that may be programmed to execute some or all of the machine readable instructions represented by the flowchart ofbut whose interconnections and logic circuitry are fixed once fabricated), the FPGA circuitryof the example ofincludes interconnections and logic circuitry that may be configured and/or interconnected in different ways after fabrication to instantiate, for example, some or all of the machine readable instructions represented by the flowcharts of. In particular, the FPGA circuitrymay be thought of as an array of logic gates, interconnections, and switches. The switches can be programmed to change how the logic gates are interconnected by the interconnections, effectively forming one or more dedicated logic circuits (unless and until the FPGA circuitryis reprogrammed). The configured logic circuits enable the logic gates to cooperate in different ways to perform different operations on data received by input circuitry. Those operations may correspond to some or all of the software represented by the flowcharts of. As such, the FPGA circuitrymay be structured to effectively instantiate some or all of the machine readable instructions of the flowcharts ofas dedicated logic circuits to perform the operations corresponding to those software instructions in a dedicated manner analogous to an ASIC. Therefore, the FPGA circuitrymay perform the operations corresponding to the some or all of the machine readable instructions offaster than the general purpose microprocessor can execute the same.

12 FIG. 12 FIG. 11 FIG. 3 FIGS. 12 FIG. 1200 1200 1202 1204 1206 1204 1200 1204 1206 1100 1200 1208 1210 1212 1208 1210 4 1208 1208 1208 In the example of, the FPGA circuitryis structured to be programmed (and/or reprogrammed one or more times) by an end user by a hardware description language (HDL) such as Verilog. The FPGA circuitryof, includes example input/output (I/O) circuitryto obtain and/or output data to/from example configuration circuitryand/or external hardware (e.g., external hardware circuitry). For example, the configuration circuitrymay implement interface circuitry that may obtain machine readable instructions to configure the FPGA circuitry, or portion(s) thereof. In some such examples, the configuration circuitrymay obtain the machine readable instructions from a user, a machine (e.g., hardware circuitry (e.g., programmed or dedicated circuitry) that may implement an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) model to generate the instructions), etc. In some examples, the external hardwaremay implement the microprocessorof. The FPGA circuitryalso includes an array of example logic gate circuitry, a plurality of example configurable interconnections, and example storage circuitry. The logic gate circuitryand interconnectionsare configurable to instantiate one or more operations that may correspond to at least some of the machine readable instructions ofand/orand/or other desired operations. The logic gate circuitryshown inis fabricated in groups or blocks. Each block includes semiconductor-based electrical structures that may be configured into logic circuits. In some examples, the electrical structures include logic gates (e.g., And gates, Or gates, Nor gates, etc.) that provide basic building blocks for logic circuits. Electrically controllable switches (e.g., transistors) are present within each of the logic gate circuitryto enable configuration of the electrical structures and/or the logic gates to form circuits to perform desired operations. The logic gate circuitrymay include other electrical structures such as look-up tables (LUTs), registers (e.g., flip-flops or latches), multiplexers, etc.

1210 1208 The interconnectionsof the illustrated example are conductive pathways, traces, vias, or the like that may include electrically controllable switches (e.g., transistors) whose state can be changed by programming (e.g., using an HDL instruction language) to activate or deactivate one or more connections between one or more of the logic gate circuitryto program desired logic circuits.

1212 1212 1212 1208 The storage circuitryof the illustrated example is structured to store result(s) of the one or more of the operations performed by corresponding logic gates. The storage circuitrymay be implemented by registers or the like. In the illustrated example, the storage circuitryis distributed amongst the logic gate circuitryto facilitate access and increase execution speed.

1200 1214 1214 1216 1216 1200 1218 1220 1222 1218 12 FIG. The example FPGA circuitryofalso includes example Dedicated Operations Circuitry. In this example, the Dedicated Operations Circuitryincludes special purpose circuitrythat may be invoked to implement commonly used functions to avoid the need to program those functions in the field. Examples of such special purpose circuitryinclude memory (e.g., DRAM) controller circuitry, PCIe controller circuitry, clock circuitry, transceiver circuitry, memory, and multiplier-accumulator circuitry. Other types of special purpose circuitry may be present. In some examples, the FPGA circuitrymay also include example general purpose programmable circuitrysuch as an example CPUand/or an example DSP. Other general purpose programmable circuitrymay additionally or alternatively be present such as a GPU, an XPU, etc., that can be programmed to perform other operations.

11 12 FIGS.and 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 12 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 12 FIG. 7 4 FIG.and 11 FIG. 7 8 FIGS.and 12 FIG. 7 8 FIGS.and 1 FIG. 6 FIG. 912 1012 1220 912 1012 1100 1200 1102 1200 Althoughillustrate two example implementations of the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryof, many other approaches are contemplated. For example, as mentioned above, modern FPGA circuitry may include an on-board CPU, such as one or more of the example CPUof. Therefore, the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryofmay additionally be implemented by combining the example microprocessorofand the example FPGA circuitryof. In some such hybrid examples, a first portion of the machine readable instructions represented by the flowcharts ofmay be executed by one or more of the coresof, a second portion of the machine readable instructions represented by the flowcharts ofmay be executed by the FPGA circuitryof, and/or a third portion of the machine readable instructions represented by the flowcharts ofmay be executed by an ASIC. It should be understood that some or all of the circuitry ofmay, thus, be instantiated at the same or different times. Some or all of the circuitry may be instantiated, for example, in one or more threads executing concurrently and/or in series. Moreover, in some examples, some or all of the circuitry ofmay be implemented within one or more virtual machines and/or containers executing on the microprocessor.

912 1012 1100 1200 912 1012 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 11 FIG. 12 FIG. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. In some examples, the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryofmay be in one or more packages. For example, the microprocessorofand/or the FPGA circuitryofmay be in one or more packages. In some examples, an XPU may be implemented by the processor circuitryofand/or the processor circuitryof, which may be in one or more packages. For example, the XPU may include a CPU in one package, a DSP in another package, a GPU in yet another package, and an FPGA in still yet another package.

1305 932 1032 1305 1305 1305 932 1032 1305 932 1032 1305 1310 932 1032 1305 900 1000 932 1032 206 208 1305 932 1032 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 13 FIGS. 9 FIG. 10 FIG. 7 8 FIGS.and 7 8 FIGS.and 9 FIG. 10 FIG. A block diagram illustrating an example software distribution platformto distribute software such as the example machine readable instructionsofand/or the example machine readable instructionsofto hardware devices owned and/or operated by third parties is illustrated in. The example software distribution platformmay be implemented by any computer server, data facility, cloud service, etc., capable of storing and transmitting software to other computing devices. The third parties may be customers of the entity owning and/or operating the software distribution platform. For example, the entity that owns and/or operates the software distribution platformmay be a developer, a seller, and/or a licensor of software such as the example machine readable instructionsofand/or machine readable instructionsof. The third parties may be consumers, users, retailers, OEMs, etc., who purchase and/or license the software for use and/or re-sale and/or sub-licensing. In the illustrated example, the software distribution platformincludes one or more servers and one or more storage devices. The storage devices store the machine readable instructions,which may correspond to the example machine readable instructions of, respectively, as described above. The one or more servers of the example software distribution platformare in communication with a network, which may correspond to any one or more of the Internet and/or any out suitable network. In some examples, the one or more servers are responsive to requests to transmit the software to a requesting party as part of a commercial transaction. Payment for the delivery, sale, and/or license of the software may be handled by the one or more servers of the software distribution platform and/or by a third party payment entity. The servers enable purchasers and/or licensors to download the machine readable instructions,from the software distribution platform. For example, the software, which may correspond to the example machine readable instructions of, may be downloaded to the example processor platforms,, which is to execute the machine readable instructions,, respectively to implement the watermark distributor managerand/or the encoder manager. In some example, one or more servers of the software distribution platformperiodically offer, transmit, and/or force updates to the software (e.g., the example machine readable instructionsof, the example machine readable instructionsof, etc.) to ensure improvements, patches, updates, etc., are distributed and applied to the software at the end user devices.

Example methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture to methods and apparatus for decentralized content measurement are disclosed herein.  Further examples and combinations thereof include the following:

Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising permission manager circuitry to detect a request from a requesting device, the request for watermark payload elements to encode in a media asset, and blockchain client interface circuitry to allocate, via a first transaction on a blockchain maintained by a blockchain network, the water payload elements.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 2, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 2, wherein the first watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain, the second watermark payload elements are based on an identity of the blockchain, and the blockchain client interface circuitry is to allocate the first watermark payload elements by transferring the first watermark payload elements to the requesting device via the blockchain.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 1, further including encoding verification circuitry to verify, via a ledger of the blockchain, the media asset has been encoded with the watermark payload elements.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 5, wherein the blockchain client interface circuitry is to obtain, via a second transaction on the blockchain, the watermark payload elements from the requesting device and store the watermark payload elements in a database, and further including media identification database interface circuitry to designate the watermark payload elements stored in the database as previously encoded.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the blockchain is private to a first node of the blockchain network associated with the requesting device and a second node of the blockchain network associated with the blockchain client interface circuitry.

Example 8 includes a method comprising detecting a request from a requesting device, the request for watermark payload elements to encode in a media asset, and allocating, via a first transaction on a blockchain maintained by a blockchain network, the water payload elements.

Example 9 includes the method of example 8, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements.

Example 10 includes the method of example 9, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 11 includes the method of example 9, wherein the first watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain, the second watermark payload elements are based on an identity of the blockchain, and the allocating of the first watermark payload elements includes transferring the first watermark payload elements to the requesting device via the blockchain.

Example 12 includes the method of example 8, further including encoding verification circuitry to verify, via a ledger of the blockchain, the media asset has been encoded with the watermark payload elements.

Example 13 includes the method of example 12, further including obtaining, via a second transaction on the blockchain, the watermark payload elements from the requesting device and store the watermark payload elements in a database, and designating the watermark payload elements stored in the database as previously encoded.

Example 14 includes At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least detect a request from a requesting device, the request for watermark payload elements to encode in a media asset, and allocate, via a first transaction on a blockchain maintained by a blockchain network, the water payload elements.

Example 15 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 14, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements.

Example 16 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 15, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 17 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 15, wherein the first watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain, the second watermark payload elements are based on an identity of the blockchain, and the instructions cause the at least one processor to allocate of the first watermark payload elements includes by transferring the first watermark payload elements to the requesting device via the blockchain.

Example 18 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 14, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to verify, via a ledger of the blockchain, the media asset has been encoded with the watermark payload elements.

Example 19 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 18, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to obtain, via a second transaction on the blockchain, the watermark payload elements from the requesting device and store the watermark payload elements in a database, and designate the watermark payload elements stored in the database as previously encoded.

Example 20 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 14, wherein the blockchain is private to a first node of the blockchain network associated with the requesting device and a second node of the blockchain network.

Example 21 includes an apparatus comprising permission requestor circuitry to transmit a request, via a first transaction on a blockchain of a blockchain network, for watermark payload elements, watermark encoder circuitry to obtain the watermark payload elements via a second transaction on the blockchain and encode a media asset with the watermark payload elements, and blockchain client interface circuitry to return the watermark payload elements to a central facility device via a third transaction on the blockchain.

Example 22 includes the apparatus of example 21, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements, the second watermark payload elements based on an identity of the blockchain.

Example 23 includes the apparatus of example 22, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 24 includes the apparatus of example 21, wherein the watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain.

Example 25 includes the apparatus of example 21, wherein the blockchain is private to a first node associated with the central facility device and a second node associated with the blockchain client interface circuitry.

Example 26 includes the apparatus of example 21, further including media asset publisher circuitry to publish the encoded media asset to a multichannel video programming distributor, the encoded media asset to be presented on-demand by the multichannel video programming distributor.

Example 27 includes the apparatus of example 21, wherein the request includes a length of the media asset, and a quantity of the watermark payload elements is based on the length.

Example 28 includes a method comprising transmitting a request, via a first transaction on a blockchain of a blockchain network, for watermark payload elements, obtaining the watermark payload elements via a second transaction on the blockchain and encode a media asset with the watermark payload elements, and returning the watermark payload elements to a central facility device via a third transaction on the blockchain.

Example 29 includes the method of example 28, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements, the second watermark payload elements based on an identity of the blockchain.

Example 30 includes the method of example 29, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 31 includes the method of example 28, wherein the watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain.

Example 32 includes the method of example 28, wherein the blockchain is private to a first node associated with the central facility device and a second node.

Example 33 includes the method of example 28, further including publishing the encoded media asset to a multichannel video programming distributor, the encoded media asset to be presented on-demand by the multichannel video programming distributor.

Example 34 includes At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least transmit a request, via a first transaction on a blockchain of a blockchain network, for watermark payload elements, obtain the watermark payload elements via a second transaction on the blockchain and encode a media asset with the watermark payload elements, and return the watermark payload elements to a central facility device via a third transaction on the blockchain.

Example 35 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 34, wherein the watermark payload elements are first watermark payload elements of watermarks to be embedded in the media asset, respective ones of the watermarks including corresponding ones of the first watermark payload elements and corresponding ones of second watermark payload elements, the second watermark payload elements based on an identity of the blockchain.

Example 36 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 35, wherein the first watermark payload elements are time in content codes and the second watermark payload elements are source identification codes.

Example 37 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 34, wherein the watermark payload elements are a transaction medium of the blockchain.

Example 38 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 37, wherein the blockchain is private to a first node associated with the central facility device and a second node.

Example 39 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 18, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to publish the encoded media asset to a multichannel video programming distributor, the encoded media asset to be presented on-demand by the multichannel video programming distributor.

Example 40 includes the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of example 34, wherein the request includes a length of the media asset, and a quantity of the watermark payload elements is based on the length.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that use decentralized content measurement using blockchain technology. Disclosed systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture improve the efficiency of using a computing device by enabling clients to negotiate for tag metadata in a secure environment isolated from other users. Unlike prior systems, the present system does not necessarily require files to transfer and creates an immutable record that prevents duplication of watermarks. Disclosed systems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are accordingly directed to one or more improvement(s) in the operation of a machine such as a computer or other electronic and/or mechanical device.

The following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of the present disclosure.